Twirly Jean Skirt Tutorial by Make It and Love It

My friend, Ashley, is here to teach us how to make an adorable Twirly Jean Skirt with a great step by step tutorial!

Hi, it’s me…….Ashley from Make It and Love It. I’ve high-jacked Kari’s blog for today. Such a cute blog to high-jack! Shall I change her coding and turn everything bright screamin’ yellow?? (Actually, she didn’t give me that much access……probably a good thing.)

About me? Well, I’m a craftin’ mommy to two small kiddos. My husband is in school and studies like crazy so that has left me with lots of empty time in the evenings. So I have filled it up with projects. There are tutorials all over the place. Some sewing, some crafting, and a few recipes sprinkled in. So if you need a new little something to work on……head on over to find all sorts of free tutorials to fit your fancy. And stay a while. (But if you don’t sew/craft or just don’t have time, you can find a few items and patterns for sale here.)

Now onto the good stuff. Like a brand-spankin’ new tutorial………..

I have a little 2 1/2 year old who grows out of things like crazy. Darn tall genes……..they sure cause us grief sometimes. So I have tried to make good use out of the pants she has grown out of. The waist still fits but the pants become too short. (If you’re interested, I have altered other pants here and here.) So a little effort………and we have a new
Twirly Jean Skirt.

Don’t you just want to cut off the good jeans too and make 4 or 5 new skirts for your little girl/niece/granddaughter/etc.? Don’t tempt me……..

How to make them?
(Remember to click on the images to view larger.)

First, cut off an old pair of jeans about 1/2 inch below the zipper.

Then zig-sag around the bottom edge.

Now, you’re going to cut out 2 pieces to make the skirt, a front and a back piece. Measure the width across the bottom of the skirt and then double the amount and add an inch for a seam allowance. For example, my pants were 12 inches across so I knew I needed to cut out fabric that was 25 inches wide.

Then decide how long you’d like your skirt to be. I decided to make mine 12 inches long, from top to bottom. And since my newly cut jeans were about 6 inches from to bottom…….I needed about 6 more inches. But then I added another inch to the top for a seam allowance and a 1/2 inch to the bottom for a seam allowance. (I added more to the top because later on it will overlap the denim, causing it to lose some height.) So I needed to cut the pieces 7 1/5 inches tall.

So the dimensions of my 2 skirts pieces were 25 x 7 1/2 inches. Use the same technique to measure and cut yours.

Then, I placed the two pieces right sides together and sewed along the short ends with a 1/2 inch seam allowance. (Then either zig-zag or sew again to secure your seams.)

Now you’re going to finish off the top and bottom of this skirt section. Fold down the upper edge a 1/4 inch…….

………and then 1/4 inch again.

Sew into place and do the same thing to the bottom edge.

Now you’re going to gather the fabric to make the ruffle. Using your largest stitch length, sew one seam across the top front of the skirt section. (3/8 inch from the edge) Leave the ends of your thread at least 6 inches long. Now make another seam across the top back…..leaving your ends long as well.

Now place pins at the sides, the center front, and the center back of your skirt section.

And place pins at the sides, the center front, and the center back of your jeans.

Now, pull the top thread on each end of the seam to gather the skirt section in. Slide the fabric along the thread to gather it up.

Match the pins on the skirt to the pins on the jeans. Alter and scrunch up the fabric until it is nicely (and evenly) lined up with the jeans.

My daughter has the tall genes too! Didn’t get em from me but oh well. I love this skirt. Great idea to keep using those genes. My husband is gone all week at scout camp so that leaves me with plenty of free time this week too. I guess I’ll be sewing cute jean skirts for my soon to be 3 yr old.